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604 had served as British Columbia's sole area code for 53 years before 250 was created as the area code for Vancouver Island and the Interior in 1997, with 604 cut back to serve Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Within four years, however, 604 was on the brink of exhaustion once again due to Canada's number allocation system. Every competitive local exchange carrier is allocated blocks of 10,000 numbers—corresponding to a single prefix—for every rate centre where they plan to offer service, even in the smallest hamlets. While most rate centres do not need nearly that many numbers, a number cannot be allocated elsewhere once assigned to a rate centre and carrier. This results in thousands of wasted numbers. The problem was particularly severe in the Lower Mainland, since it is home to most of the province's landlines and cell phones.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced on June 7, 2007, that 778 would become an overlay for the entire province effective July 4, 2007, due to the impending exhaustion of numbers in 250.[3] Overlays have become the preferred method of relief in Canada, and Telus and other carriers wanted to spare customers outside the Lower Mainland the expense and burden of changing their numbers for the second time in a decade.

As of June 23, 2008, 10-digit dialing became mandatory across British Columbia; attempting to use seven digits would trigger an intercept message reminding callers of the new rule. After September 12, 2008, 7-digit dialing ceased to function.[4]

This was intended as a long-term solution, but within four years 604, 250 and 778 were close to exhaustion once again. To solve the problem, area code 236 went into effect as an additional overlay for the province on June 1, 2013.[5]

Area codes 604, 250, 778 and 236 are expected to be exhausted by May 2020. As such, the CRTC has ordered the introduction of a new area code, 672, which will be put into effect on May 4, 2019.[1]